Huddersfield Town could benefit from Stoke City transfer swoop this January | OneFootball

Huddersfield Town should make a move to sign Stoke City winger Andre Vidigal in the January transfer window.

Huddersfield Town remain in contention for promotion in League One, despite an underwhelming start given their pre-season expectations and just how busy and seemingly ambitious they were in the summer transfer window.

However, despite that activity in the summer, Huddersfield are likely going to have to be busy once again in the January transfer window, and a move for out of favour Stoke City winger Andre Vidigal is one that would make sense for all parties.

Following the appointment of rookie boss Lee Grant, Huddersfield owner and chairman Kevin Nagle backed the new manager with a raft of incomings to try and entirely revamp the squad and shift the style of football away from Michael Duff’s more reactive and defensive approach last season.

An intent to play possession-based football has been the tactical focus, but Huddersfield have often been left frustrated, as they return from the November international break sitting as low as tenth in the third-tier.

That said, though, the Terriers are just four points off the top six and the play-off places, as well as just six points behind second place Lincoln City, with two games in hand on the Imps.

Huddersfield haven’t been great, but they aren’t far away, and if Grant is to continue to be backed by the club, then a couple more additions in the winter could begin to see a major and timely improvement, and a move for Vidigal is one that they should be looking at.

Huddersfield Town need width and pace in the final third

The squad had been set-up to play in a 3-5-2 system under the management of Michael Duff and, despite transforming the playing personnel, the current group again seems more suited to that shape.

They brought in as many as five centre-backs and still have five first-team strikers on the books, despite Freddie Ladapo’s departure, with quite a few box-to-box midfielders and no real out-and-out so-called ‘number ten’.

That is why it has been relatively puzzling for Grant to stick to his principles of playing a 4-2-3-1 system with marquee addition Alfie May being deployed in the attacking midfield role.

That is one problem to solve, but the other comes in the wide positions, with Huddersfield simply lacking a bit of depth out on the wing, as well as any real pace across the park.

Marcus Harness was an impressive addition on paper, and he is certainly someone of good pedigree to play on either flank but, beyond that, Huddersfield are reliant on width provided from loanee Will Alves and versatile forward Zepiqueno Redmond, beyond playing wing-backs such as Ruben Roosken and Mickel Miller higher than they perhaps ought to.

Huddersfield have shown a desire to play possession football with the sixth most accurate passes per match, but without much thrust and incision in the final third, given the fact they have made just 29 big chances, the 15th most in the division, according to FotMob.

They are in the bottom-half of the league table for accurate crosses per match, too, perhaps best highlighting their lack of quality wing-play, despite a dominance of the ball.

The fact that Huddersfield, for a club of their size in League One and with the aspirations for the title that they do and should have had in pre-season, are 11th for touches in the opposition box, despite the amount of passes and the ball that they have, is also indicative of a lack of real cohesion in the final third, with the lack of wide men and a bit of pace to beat a player to get into the box one theory as to why that is.

The wing should be a key area of priority for any incoming business in the January transfer window and Stoke City winger Andre Vidigal may well be a very good fit for Town.

Andre Vidigal would do well with a move to Huddersfield Town

Having joined Stoke from Portuguese outfit Maritimo in the summer of 2023, Andre Vidigal has shown glimpses of real quality for the Potters with six goals from 39 appearances, a reasonable return, in isolation, for a player learning a new league and culture in the cut-and-thrust of the second-tier.

The former Portugal youth international, who has now been capped by Angola at senior level, began with six in 29 games in the 2023/24 season before injuries and a lack of form saw him reduced to a bit-part player in the 2024/25 campaign.

Now, with Mark Robins developing a far more effective Stoke side that are challenging for promotion to the Premier League with a raft of new signings in the final third, such as Sorba Thomas, Divin Mubama and Jamie Donley, to go with the likes of Bae Jun-ho and Million Manhoef; Vidigal has fallen so out of favour at the Bet365 Stadium as to have not been given a squad number by Stoke this season.

A player of his ilk, a direct winger with a bit of the maverick about him, perhaps relies on regular minutes to get to his best form and rhythm, but that hasn’t and isn’t going to come at Stoke.

Dropping down a division to be able to find some of that fluency at a naturally easier level could well aid him, and would be perfect for Huddersfield as they seek for a point of difference in the final third.

With so much focus on control and winning duels in the modern day game, the notion of a game breaker in the final third is something that is becoming more prominent at all levels, as has been the case for some of the high-flyers in League One, such as Rubin Colwill at Cardiff City and Amario Cozier-Duberry at Bolton Wanderers.

Two players who play in a system-based approach, undoubtedly, but are also given more of a free license than any of their counterparts in West Yorkshire thus far.

In the 2023/24 campaign, Andre Vidigal finished as Stoke’s top scorer in the league with 0.9 successful dribbles per game. In contrast, the only two players to have completed more successful dribbles per game for Huddersfield this season are Lasse Sorensen and Ruben Roosken; both more suited to a right wing-back role.